Kainga Whānau Ora Approach
Learning Communities – affecting change through all sectors of social responsibility
A Kainga Whānau Ora approach provides a revitalised model of health and social approach to wellness by empowering whānau in principle and practice putting whānau as a contributing factor in the relationship for wellness.
Kainga Oranga, Kainga Whānau as stated by Manuka Henare (2012) as a whānau ora conference keynote speaker in Whangarei that whānau wellness had already existed in the home. The home is where education existed and that as whānau grew marae were formed to cater for growth, but the same responsibilities were consistently performed by different tutors. Oranga in the Kainga had been lost to differing interpretation and implementation of physical wellness excluding cultural, spiritual and social.
It is the intent to revitalise in context of wellness to acknowledge the health and social components to include cultural and spiritual in home environments as it has been and still the centre point of wellness for whānau. This requires positive facilitation with and for whānau to identify and seek resourcing to work towards wellness, individually and collectively with the community. Whānau participation is relevant to sel solution and collective sustainability.
What?
Integrated approach of health and social services response to whanau in need of health, justice, economic, housing, education and employment etc (deprivation, disadvantage) in their environment (home).
Whanau participation is relevant to self solution and collective sustainability. We like to think of the approach as “Learning Communities” – taking collective learnings from the past and redeploying them back into the community.
Revitalisation through using past learnings for today’s environment.
Why?
It is a social and health commitment as practitioner to provide the best of our professional and humane ability to assist whanau in need.
How?
By providing quality service for the purpose of healing by nurture by informing to inform for understanding and awareness of issues and challenges and to resource if possible or to find the appropriate resourcing. At times it may require lobbying with other experts within or external of the organisation.
This is made possible by allowing whānau to vision and aspire to navigate possibilities.
What makes this unique?
- Community organisations have the ability to go into our whanau homes and be seen as whanau and have those important questions whanau are challenged with.
- Our role requires us to think whanau are not client/patients but our whanau with a kaupapa need for our servicing.
- Te Hau Awhiowhio are a health and social service model with a wise range of resources, internal, external and networks of the resources locally and regionally of all sectors ie. Health, Education, Justice, Corrections, Police, Oranga Tamariki, hapu and iwi.
Purpose
- Whanau wellness: health and socially
- Whanau awareness: health, social and cultural
- Whanau employment: education, work ready and employment
- Kainga oranga, kainga whanau: emergency, rental, home ownership
- Whanau incomes: budgeting and management
- Whanau manāki, education of system: legal for health, social, cultural, financial
- Safe environments: whanau, kainga and community.
Outcomes for whānau
- Whanau taking responsibility for whanau
- Whanau being at the centre to lead the development of solutions for their own transformation
- Building on whanau strengths and capability
- Whanau-centred services that are shaped by te Ao Maori values and philosophies
- The freeing up of health and social service providers from the dozens of separate contracts for services that currently tie them up
- Greater coordination across government agencies and providers at the local level, and
- Coherent, relevant and connected whanau service delivery approaches.